I really like camping but beeing from overseas it is a bit complicated. Actually it is too much effort in my opinion. You cannot take the whole camping gear with you on the flight due to luggage restrictions.We tried it in April and we were far away from comfortable camping. We actually upgraded after a few nights.You have to think about a tent, sleeping mattresses, sleeping bags, chairs, cutlery, crockery etc.Of course you can buy everything in SA (to buy or to rent is more or less the same price) but as you cannot take everything with you on the way back camping won´t be cheaper than accomodation.

My compromise now is staying in Safari Tents. All you need to bring with you from overseas is cutlery and crockery.Another alternative could be a 4x4 with a tent on the roof. You can get these cars fully equipped which means that cutlery, crockery etc. is on board.

http://www.mywildlifephotos.de - Oktober 2011: new photos from my trip to Kenya and the Serengeti.

I have only been (for the first time this month) been in the ones at LS, Cheetah but....I am a converted 'camper' now .It was SUPER !Even though I must have awoken our neighbours (or perhaps the whole camp ) when I nearly stepped on more than one mouse @3am one morning .

I loved our Safari Tents at Punda. We sleep with the windows open. Each night two bushbabies would come by - how wonderful to watch their antics.

One year we took a cheap Game tent to camp in. I love looking at the stars at night and if there is good moon light, the bush, so we sleep with just the fly net closed. We were on the fence at Punda, at the waterhole. Our tent had two doors, the back one locked with a little lock. SO happened to be sleeping very peacefully that night. Snoring away. An ellie came to drink - it sounded as if he was IN the tent

I decided the Punda fence was NOT ellie proof

I decided that Ellie could get very annoyed with snoring sounds from our tent (drops from ellie's splashes were falling on the tent after all)

I woke SO - quick, we have to move. Not out the back, thats locked. Out the front - before the ellie stomps this snoring tent to bits.

We moved. Fast.

There we were, at 2am, in our night outfits , sitting in the Punda birdhide waiting for the ellie to drink, wash, drink, splash, drink and then move off.

I love camping, in my own tent and sleeping in my own bed I love having only mozzie netting and some nylon separating me from the outside. When its hot, I leave the front and back door wide open, only zipping up the mozzie netting.

Camping is so great for us!!! We are getting on in life, so we bought a large tent so that we do not have to crawl around, we have a small fridge to store out meat and drinks, lots of different lights and lamps,blow up mattresses, I guess we have been doing it so long that it has become a way of life.

We try and camp near the fence, and its amazing what animals patrol the fence or come into the camping ground e.g.Hyena of course, Ratel, AWC,Civet and the Large Bushbaby who use the electric lines to travel on.. And in the day we had an experience with a Large Monitor Lizard who had found a cosy spot under our car in the shade. It took us about 15 minutes to get him out, and he ran to the next caravan and found another shady space there!!!!

During the day especially around Pretoriuskop there are so many different types of birds, a cuckoo landed on our side window and saw its reflection and started banging so hard at this other bird that he did not think it was him. The only down thing about camping is to move from one camp to the other. So we stay in a place for at least 4 days and then move on. It also helps if you want to change your camp booking the powers that be just notifies the camp that we want to go to that we are coming. It takes about half an hour to pack up and about 1 hour to set camp up again. But we don't mind Mama Faru